Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laparoscopic device for anchoring the internal organs to the thoracic diaphragm or abdominal wall of a patient.
Description of Related Art
The art of laparoscopy has been known to mankind for more than 100 years. However, the rapid growth has occurred in this field only after 1986, when the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy was reported by a surgeon from France. Laparoscopic surgery is one form of surgery carried out by making small incisions on the abdominal wall, instead of the conventional large incisions. It requires using special tubes (called trocars), hand instruments, telescope and camera.
Laparoscopic surgery is performed by making small incisions on the abdominal wall and then inserting several trocars through these small incisions. Thereafter, a telescope is inserted through one of these trocars in order to observe the inside view of the abdominal cavity. Subsequently, through these trocars laparoscopic hand instruments are introduced to be used to manipulate the abdominal viscera in the form of various activities such as—retraction, dissection, cutting, suturing etc. to carry out the laparoscopic surgery. Presently, many laparoscopic surgeries are being performed using this technique. One of the most common surgeries being performed by the laparoscopic technique is cholecystectomy (i.e. removal of the gallbladder for treating symptomatic gallstones).
Normally, laparoscopic cholecystectomy is performed using four trocars. The first trocar is inserted at the umbilicus and the abdomen is filled up with carbon dioxide gas which is pumped in with the help of a pump (called the insufflator). This creates adequate space inside the abdominal cavity for facilitating the surgeon to work inside the abdomen during the laparoscopic surgery. Through this trocar, a telescope is passed which is connected to small camera (called endocamera). This telescope picks-up the image of the inside of the abdominal cavity and displays it on television monitor. Three more trocars are inserted in the abdomen for introducing various laparoscopic hand instruments. The surgeon carries out various surgical steps with these instruments. The position of these trocars varies from surgeon to surgeon and from patient to patient.
The first step of laparoscopic cholecystectomy is passing a grasping forceps through a port on the right side of the abdomen to grasp the fundus (upper part) of the gallbladder and push it towards the thoracic diaphragm. This step exposes an area called “Calot's triangle” region below the liver which carries the cystic artery and the cystic duct entering the gallbladder. Then, the surgeon introduces two more instruments from other two trocars to dissect out the cystic artery and the cystic duct before they are clipped and divided. Dissection of the gallbladder from the liver and its extraction follows to complete the surgical procedure.
A recent modification to the technique of laparoscopic cholecystectomy has been the single incision laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In this form of surgery only one incision is made near the umbilicus and the laparoscope as well as all the instruments are introduced through various trocars placed side by side or a specialized device that accommodates up to three or four instruments. However, one of the instruments is exclusively tied up for the retraction of the gallbladder.
However, in such laparoscopic surgeries, an assistant is continuously required to keep a grasp on the grasping instrument used for retraction of a particular organ, such as gall bladder. At least four trocars are needed to perform such laparoscopic cholecystectomy or any such surgery involving grasping of various internal organs, for operating on them by laparoscopic procedure. Even if the laparoscopic surgery is performed through a single incision, actually there is a shortage of space for inserting multiple devices or tubes for carrying out this surgery. In addition, sometimes a needle-hole grasper is also required to be used in such single incision laparoscopic surgery.